The World as Will and Representation, Vol. 2

Great book, the definitive translation. Give it a try.

After completing the first volume of The World as Will and Representation I decided to move on to volume 2. This is a great edition and a decent translation, but I prefer the more modern translation by Judith Norman Alistair Welchman and Christopher Janeway that I have in the paperback edition. As for this edition on Kindle, it is excellent. I haven't seen any formatting errors or mistakes. for the price, this is a five-star purchase all the way.

Lesson is easy to understand

This arrived today and I'm happy to say that the print and paper quality are both excellent. I'm still cracking into this edition, but so far I have nothing but nice things to say about it. As far as the actual work is concerned, this is Schopenhauer's magnum opus and should be read by absolutely everyone who claims to enjoy Western philosophy.

Took me awhile to understand the central claim(s), but once I did I was very impressed. Schopenhauer was, rightly so, an influence on most of the great thinkers in the modern era and this text effectively illustrates why.

This is a book you just read and try to understand. Yes it is dated now but it's also the building block for many of the ideas that follow and are taken for granted today. The Kindle copy is clean and easy to read which is not always the case.

My favorite pessimist. Schopenhauer is matter of fact when it comes to being human.

I read all the four review of Vol II of 'The World as Will and Represenation', and agree with about everything that has been said. Why so few reviews? Well most of my 'engineer' friends have never heard of Schopenhauer; (they may know Frederick Nietzsche) Here I will attempt to provide a longer, hopefully more informative review. Ok, first, I found Volume I to be more readable (and shorter at 534 pages, as opposed to 776 pages for Volume II. The second volume was harder to go through. Volume II is an elobaratio on the ideas of the first volume as pointed out nicely by another review. How much harder? I kept this thick book by my reading stand in the john (with small J, not the Babtist), and I was able to get through in about forty attempts. That is not to diminish the value of this book, or the value of reading someone articulate and intelligent' as this German guy. Consider, however, the following last half of a paragraph on page 553 (verbatim): -------------------- All philosophers have erred in placing the metaphysical, the indestructible, the eternal in a person in the intellect; it lies exclusively in the 'will,' whichis entirely distinct fro the intellect and is alone original. The 'intellect', as was most thoroughly demonstrated in the second book, is a secondary phenomenon and conditioned by the brain, thus beginning and ending with it. The will alone is the the conditioning element, the core of entire phenomenon, therefore free of the forms pertaining to it, to which time belongs, hence also indestructible. With death, accordingly, consciousness is certainly lost, but not what produced and maintained consciousness; life is extinguished, but not the principal of life that manifested itself in it. For this reason, then, a sure feeling says to everyone that there is something absolutely imperishable and indestructible in him. Even the freshness an vividness of recollections from the most distant past, from early childhood, testify to the fact that something in us does not move along with time, does not age, but rather persists unchanged. But what this imperishable element was, we could not distinctly grasp. Is it not consciousness, any more than the body on which consciousness obviously depends. Rather it is that on which the body, together with consciousness, depends. But this is precisely what, by entering into consciousness, displays itself as 'will'. We can of course not get beyond this most immediate phenomenon of it, because we cannot get beyond consciousness; thus the question of what it may be so far as it does 'not' enter into consciousness. i.e., what it is absolutely in itself, remains unanswerable. ------------------- For those readers who did read both volumes, doesn’t this pretty much sums up his ‘main’ ideas? As is correctly mentioned by the previous reviewers, there are, of course, many other ‘fruitful’ ideas in Volume 2. For those readers who, like me (or should it be ‘like I’), reads the reviews first, the typing of only half of a paragraph above was time consuming and should be considered ia favor. If the half paragraph pretty much sums the main thesis or ideas up, you might ask: Why bother reading over thousand pages? Surely, there is verbosity, and quite a bit of repetition and redundancy (did you spot the redundancy here?). Nevertheless, first there are worse readings than over-a-1000-pages or Arhur; like say, this girl who wrote a novel longer than 800 pages and won some prize (booker? Don’t remember). And also, of course, there are ‘other ideas’ that I would like to point out as valuable. Of course, some other hangup that is part of Arthur S. like hating the card players elsewhere in his publications, etc. Here is a small example. Right after the half paragraph mentioned, he goes onto the next paraghraph as follows: -------------- In the phenomenon and by means of its forms, time and space, as 'principium individuationis' (explained the footnote as ‘we sense and experience that we are eternal), things are displayed as if the human individual perishes, whereas the human race remain and lives forever. But… (it goes on) -------------- Really? Is there any guarantee that the human race will not go extinct? As one of the Beatles is said to have pointed out once, ‘all things pass’ (referring to their fame and glory at one period). In this same vein, one might point out to the quip by Woody Allen to the effect that immortality is best when you retain your memory, and yes also your consciousness. Besides, this reviewer would rather have the claim by one physicist Tegmark as regards doppelgangers of us in multiple universes who nevertheless achieved and experienced more… Now what are these wonderful other ideas that the reader who bothers will get out of these two voluminous volumes? (primarily from the second volume). With more respectful attitude towards animal life and times, in places, he gropes with ‘evolution’ as we, by now, having the luxury of Darwin’s work, understand (excluding, of course, the deniers of evolution in favor of some religious dogma). We must note here that A. S. died in the year Darwin published his work and did not have the benefit of its content (probably). In some other places, he comes very very close to Einstein’s space-time ideas, alluding to, for instance, regarding everything as already having happened and cast in hard stone (so much for free will, and free wheeling free willers, ehh!). I sympathize with his mention of the childhood in the above paraphrased half paragraph. Not only did I feel absolutely ‘eternal’ in my childhood and early youth, but I also had the luxury of literal religious beliefs where I worried about the prophet saying: I will not rise by 1300 but will not be delayed to 1500, referring to Arabic calendar and apocalypse. As a six-year-old, realizing that we were living in between those two dates, those two dates; I was pretty worried! Unfortunatey, I lost that kind of faith around the age of nineteen. I could never understand why some people keep the faith until the age of 49, 59, or 99.. Perhaps this is due to greed, not being satisfied with this one life, and wanting to enjoy life for another eternity. Finally, we must note that his remarks are well intentioned, like a ‘consolation’ prize for those of us who dread life; but also, more importantly, for those of us, lke Mark Twain, who do not fear death as being something like what it was like before we were born. Once a Hindu friend, out of respect bless him, aske me something like: But hey come on, where will will go after we die (answer me, answer me, he insisted). When murmured: You will ‘probably’ go to where you were before 1945 (referring to a year before his birth); he refused to talk to me for three or four days (he was very much offended). I leave the reader with this final sentiment, still relevant to A.S.’s work who, after all, published another work with ‘consolation’ in its title. Okay, Arthur, let’s hope not just your books, but your very essence or will as you will still remains and forever.

O livro veio como esperava.

Have you ever felt that philosophers are wasting your time? Likely those who teach classes from a textbook at university. They string together 3 or 4 big words per sentence that all are all subjective and so every sentence they speak means absolutely nothing to the beholder. Well, Schopenhauer is the opposite. His writing, as he puts it somewhere else in the book about others, is the only type of writing worth reading as it shines light on topics that are obscure and obfuscated and makes them more clear and well-lit to the reader. This is an analogy he provides while discussing how concepts are superior to perception when it comes to informing ones actions in the world. Man, he argues, can reference spiritual ideas when informing his action; but the spiritual ideas are distant from reality and can often be upset or interfered with by trifles which act on us from very close. "Just as the magnetic needle, which is kept in position by the combined effect of widely distributed natural forces embracing the whole earth, can nevertheless be perturbed and set in violent oscillation by a small piece of iron, if one is brought quite close to it, so even a powerful intellect can sometimes be disconcerted and perturbed by trifling events and persons, if only they affect it very closely."

Throughout the 30 odd years that I've been reading, I have to say that volume 2 of World as Will and Representation is the most fascinating book I have ever come across. I have read of most Schopenhauer's works, and this book is certainly the most thought-provoking and magical of his writings. Although his writing is very clear, his ideas are not so easy to get your head around, it definitely needs a second and third reading. I would even say that this book is life changing. Essays I highly recommend are: On Man's Need for Metaphysics On History On Death and Its Relation to the Indestructability of Our Inner Nature On the Vanity and Suffering of Life On Ethics On the Doctrine of the Denial of the Will-to-Live The Road to Salvation Epiphilosophy Most highly recommended!!

Volume 2 from Shopenhauer's masterwork The World as Will and Representation was published decades after the first volume and serves as a companion piece developping further the ideas already presented in the original book. As Shopenhauer goes from painting his philosophy in broad strokes and general principles to provinding more minute details of how it works in practice, some of the enchantment is lost as many of the exemples he gives are now (according to the scientific consensus at least) outdated. But the reader with an open mind will find lots to think about here, especially the first few chapters presenting more systematic presentations of the principles of idealism and perception. Also of great interest is that like Plato before him, Shopenhauer's take on psychology is very close to what would later develop as psychodynamic theory. As always Shopenhauer is one of the most readable philosophers of his era, and can be deciphered quite easily compared to the inscrutable prose of many of his contemporaries. Not as essential as volume one but if you liked the first, there is no reason not to pick it up.

In the second volume of 'The World as Will and Representation' Schopenhauer gives, sometimes in a too exhaustive manner, further comments and explanations on his first volume. Hereafter, a tentative summary of some of its main points. The will, matter, the body, the intellect Matter is the mere visibility of the will. Its essential nature consists in acting. It is through and through causality. Our body is matter, but also will. The individual can understand through his body's actions from within the real inner nature of things, the thing-in-itself, the will. All philosophers have made the mistake of placing that which is metaphysical, indestructible and eternal, in man's intellect. But, the intellect is nothing more than a tool of the will. The kernel is not the knowing consciousness, because it perishes together with the individual. The will however continues to live. It remains untouched by time. It is simply indestructible. Knowledge, reason, power of judgment, morality, man's character All knowing is essentially a making of representations. Since the faculty of reason is given to all, but power of judgment to few, the consequence is that man is exposed to delusion, which can induce him to commit perversities and follies of all kinds. Morality is directly opposed to the will, for the thing-in-itself is absolutely egoistic. Man's actions which are consequently done from the pure impulse of his own nature, are real symptoms of his true and inalterable character. Man's action results every time with strict necessity from two factors, his character and the motives that present themselves. Genius, Art Wisdom and genius are rooted in the perceptive faculty. Every new knowledge, every new truth is the fruit of a perception, of directly apprehending a new side of things. The genius has a more profound vision of the world. His art presents things more clearly and characteristically by emphasizing the essential. Therefore, the will must be silenced, must vanish from conscience. Man's misery Man's life is often nothing more than the bare maintenance of his very existence, in constant conflict with misery and want, and with death in prospect. 'To enter at the age of five a cotton-spinning or other factory, and from then on to sit every day first ten, then twelve, and finally fourteen hours, and perform the same mechanical work, is to purchase dearly the pleasure of drawing breath.' The chief source of the most serious evils affecting man is man himself : homo homini lupus. The world is the battle-ground of tormented and agonized beings who continue to exist only by each devouring the other. Death, religion, philosophy The thing-in-itself remains untouched by time, but not its phenomena, who die. All religions and philosophical systems are primarily the antidote to the certainty of death. This powerful attachment to life is irrational and blind. It can be explained only from the fact that our whole being-in-itself is the will-to-live, to which life must appear as the highest good, however embittered short and uncertain it may be. Sex The sexual impulse is the kernel of the will-to-live. The sex-relation is the invisible central point of all man's action and conduct, a cause of war and peace. In all sexual love, instinct holds the rein, and creates illusion, since for nature the interest of the species takes precedence over all others. The ultimate aim of all love-affairs is nothing less than the composition of the next generation. Journalists, priests 'Professional purveyors of opinion, such as journalists, as a rule give out only false goods.' 'There has never been a lack of persons who have endeavoured to create their livelihood out of man's need for metaphysics, and to exploit it as much as possible. Therefore in all nations there are monopolists and farmers-general of it, namely the priests.' 'The symbol of Christianity is an instrument of torture. The Road to Salvation One should live a life as a process of purification, leaving immorality and wickedness behind as dross. Then will appear what the Veda says : 'whoever beholds the highest and profoundest, has his heart's knot cut, all his doubts are resolved, and his works come to nought'. As Bertrand Russell remarked : Schopenhauer himself did not become an ascetic. For those who don't have the time to read the more than one thousand double pages of Schopenhauer's masterpiece, I recommend Bryan Magee's 'The Philosophy of Schopenhauer'.